Annual Christmas Party

Saturday was our annual Christmas party. A time of year where we welcome our community, new and old friends as well as friends of friends to come celebrate with us in our home. Depending on the year and the crowd in attendance, it can be a sh*t show. Maybe it’s a sign that we’re growing up, but the last two years have been delightfully drama-free.

We usually hold the party the first weekend of December, but due to DH’s work commitments we had to host in this weekend instead. I am exhausted, the bags under my eyes have been named, and it was the culmination of our very busy holiday season on base before everyone scatters to the wind with Christmas leave.

This is exactly what DH and I looked like this morning

I totally spaced and did not take any photos of the beautiful setup, the guests mingling during the party or anything fun like that. Basically there are no photos. What I did think to do was take photos of the aftermath. Why? Becausse they’re indicative of the great party!

Picture about 40 people crammed into the main floor of a PMQ, add some music, Bruce the dog, and a massive baked brie.

We format most of our large events in a similar fashion, and Christmas is no exception; our buffet table feature sweet and salty ends. On the sweet end I’ve got my gingerbread cookies with royal icing, my snowballs (or Russian Tea cakes, however you want to call them), as well as all the baked goodies that friends brought (there was an insane amount of banana bread?!). The savoury end featured a cheese and charcuterie platter, a baked brie that DH skillfully made, as well as various nuts and chips. It’s a classic combo and they all go down very well with wine, beer, scotch, moscow mules, martinis, egg nog… the list goes on.

For our bar station we had egg nog, baileys, some beer, our holiday cocktail and then everyone else brought their poison of choice. Life’s too short to make everyone drink the sh*tty beer you bought in bulk, so might as well let them bring their beverage of choice.

We got very many compliments not only Bruce’s good behaviour, but on the decor! Most comments went along these lines “It’s so nice to see everything in person! So pretty!” The tree reveal is coming this week, but for the holiday tour you can see it here.

I ended-up staying awake until about midnight at which point I retired for the evening and let DH wind down the party with remaining guests. I also “let him” put away all the remaining food and do an initial clean. The next morning after survivor’s breakfast I “let him” clean the house. I figure that if I’ve done all the prep, conceptualizing and inviting, he can contribute – not only with baked brie – with his cleaning efforts.

I made sure to wipe down our to-do list from yesterday to make room for today’s clean-up list!

As many of our friends remarked, this was our first big event without our friend. We even dug out the mug that he chose to use last year. No one used it though, so it sat unused on the kitchen island. It’s not actually a mug, rather a crystal vase with handles, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He walked around with it full of eggnog last year “drinking like a champion.” We raised a glass in his honour and made the most of our jolly seasonal gathering.

So now, with my PMQ back to normal and the prospect of quieter couple of days before Christmas, I’m doing all the fun styling posts that I’ve been working on. So stay tuned!